


Christmas’s Confessions

by papuzhek



Series: "Christmas's Confessions"... in different languages?! [2]
Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas, Confessions, Drama & Romance, F/F, First Kiss, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:41:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28458444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/papuzhek/pseuds/papuzhek
Summary: Who would have thought that this year Uranohoshi High would be asked to prepare a performance to children from primary schools from all over the village?※ yay finally translated! happy new year!
Relationships: Sakurauchi Riko/Watanabe You
Series: "Christmas's Confessions"... in different languages?! [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2075778
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Christmas’s Confessions

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Christmas’s Confessions](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28344762) by [papuzhek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/papuzhek/pseuds/papuzhek). 



Christmas time.

It’s time for red and green decorations, it’s time for jingle bells, and it’s time for gifts and fun. It’s a time spent with family, friends and loved ones. Games in the snow, decorating the Christmas tree, preparing gifts and various dishes, entertainment, smiles and laughter, warm coffee or chocolate, sweaters, warm blankets and cuddles – do you feel this atmosphere? Yes, incredible sensations and pleasant excitement.

Today's story will tell us about two girls who were brought together by an ordinary combination of circumstances.

Who would have thought that this year Uranohoshi High would be asked to prepare a performance to children from primary schools from all over the village?

Mostly, it was clear that Aqours would definitely be asked to help with the organization and perhaps even perform some festive song but that two participants were offered to directly participate in a theatrical performance? No, this is exactly what no one expected.

With such thoughts, Yō read the script of a fairy tale in which she was supposed to play an old man and an old woman together with Riko. Let's be honest: the realization that Yō will have to play an elderly married couple with Rico makes her blush. Well think for yourself: behaving like a spouse with a person from whom the breath is lost and the pulse quickens? To say that Yō is in deep trouble —to say nothing.

“It’s okay, _dear_ , you did a good thing.” A girl with wine-colored hair was reading from a chair opposite. “Let's eat corned beef instead of cheesecakes, boil water instead of tea and celebrate the coming Christmas.”

In this part the old woman had to embrace the old man and press her forehead against him, and the old man in turn agreed with her and began to help with the housework. Yō was a little worried about this, but she found it easier to accept it than to somehow resist or be afraid of it — friends also do this, and who are they to each other? Right, they’re friends.

_Friends._ Yō doesn't know if it's good or bad anymore.

“That’s it for today, everyone's free. Tomorrow we will also start at four, don't be late!”

“Good work today, thank you all!”

Yō leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes deciding to sit for a while before she went home. As she drifted back into her thoughts she let out an involuntary sigh which was answered by a giggle. Opening her right eye, the high school student saw her classmate above her, still smiling as gently and warmly as ever. Yō thought for a moment that her heart was going to burst out of her chest.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Yō lowered her eyebrows, both eyes already open.

Riko continued to laugh, causing more confusion of Yō and everyone else who was still in the room, but then trying to stop giggling she said, “When you sit like that, you look so relaxed and cute that I just can't help but, hah, laugh.” She was already covering her mouth with her hand still being unable to control her laughter.

"Wha- Hey, I still don't understand what's funny here!” Yō jumped up from her chair to stand face-to-face with Riko and look her straight in the eye. By the way, this was a fatal mistake: she can no longer be angry. "Uh... There’s... nothing to be funny, y’know…”

What about Riko? Riko continues to burst out laughing at how awkward Yō is now and how cute she looks when she's embarrassed and trying to get angry, even though she just can't do it anymore.

From afar Chika and Mari watched this idyll, simultaneously collecting garbage which had accumulated a little while they prepared the scenery for the performance. However, even with what they were doing now, their thoughts were the same:

_"They finally hit it off."_

But…

*******

"Y’know, I keep thinking that Igarashi-san has put together a little... inappropriate cast.”

These words interrupted the pleasant conversation between Riko and Yō, instantly causing Riko to freeze in place.

“What do you mean?”

Yō pressed her hands deeper into the pockets of her jacket, keeping her eyes on the road. All the time they’re involved in the preparation of this performance, the thought that the roles of the main characters of Riko and Yō were chosen by mistake didn’t leave the blue-eyed girl. Doubts tore at her from within and an unpleasant and yet incomprehensible feeling weighed heavily on her shoulders.

“Well, how to say it...” Yō hesitated a little, trying to find the right words. “Um... Our characters have been together for a long time, right? For some reason, I think it should be Kanan-chan and Mari-chan instead of us.” Yō looked up at the sky and then at Riko. “That's like they have this energy coming from them. No matter how you look at them, you really think they are this married old couple, don’t ya think?” Yō tried to smile but all she could see was her friend's puzzled face.

However, this puzzlement quickly changed to confidence mixed with sincerity. Riko fixed her honey-colored eyes on Yō with not allowing her to read her inner state and said, “Perhaps it is.” The girl shifted her gaze from the doubting friend into the distance, probably trying to see at least some outlines of her bus. “But maybe Igarashi-san doesn't think so. After all, two weeks have passed and no one has made any complaints to us.” Riko tried to raise Yō's spirits by gently patting her on the shoulder. The quiet _"indeed”_ was uttered either with sarcasm or with a certain frustration.

_“I knew it. She's still in pain.”_

The bus pulled up. When she reached the first step, she stopped and turned to face Yō. There was a sad smile on her face. Inhale.

“You'd want Chika-chan in my place, wouldn't you?” Yō's eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly. Riko looked away as if trying to hide something. “I'm sorry I came between you.”

“Wha- W-wait, wait, I didn’t-!” The girl tried to say but the classmate had already disappeared inside the bus that closed its doors right in front of Yō's nose. “I didn't... mean that...” As the sentence ended, Yō's voice turned to a whisper. All she could do now was watch the vehicle go by and sink into the fog.

_“Misty. Things are misty between us.”_

It was a challenge for Riko to hold back tears in a bus full of people. She gripped the bag tighter trying to distract herself. However, her eyes were already swimming. Gritting her teeth, Riko tried not to think about anything but her head was full of dark thoughts. It seemed like another second and she would lost her self-control.

_“Why... Why are you always in the way, Riko?!”_ That statement was the loudest and most hurtful in her head. So much time has passed, and the distance between them seems to continue to grow. Riko was just beginning to slowly believe that everything was getting better, that everything was under control, and in the end, she felt some kind of... coolness. It feels like if she tries again, she’ll only get burned by the cold. Were all those efforts in vain? Was all this sense of solving a problem just... an illusion?

_So, after all, just getting along was not enough._

_“Frosty.”_

When she reached the house and finally went to her room, Riko took a deep breath and slid to the floor propping herself up against the door. Sob, second, third… She sank her head into her lap and felt a sense of utter despair and hopelessness. She doesn't know what to do anymore.

_...is it time to give up?_

She doesn't want to. Oh how she doesn't want to, but Riko just doesn't know what to do then. She can no longer put up with this, and the proof of this is that now sitting on the cold floor she can’t stop the tears flowing in a stream, and tries to calm down with all her strength, but everything is useless: she feels resentment and frustration.

Melancholy. Melancholy engulfed Yō on the way to her home.

She thinks she really screwed up today.

She was sure she had insulted Riko and in such a stupid way. Although, Yō was completely sure — well no — she knew that Riko had misunderstood everything. Her words which could easily be interpreted as _“You need Chika-chan more than me”_ honestly hurt even more than the possible rejection, which the girl feared more than fire. Now she was interested in two questions: how to confess to Riko and how to explain to her that she doesn't regret playing together. The second one is more of a priority now.

In fact, it is true that Yō started, so to speak, avoiding Riko (but now it's more problematic because of the stage play), but she does it for subjective reasons. Do you know this state when you are in love with someone, but you are afraid that at some inopportune moment your feelings may break out? This was what the blue-eyed girl dreaded most. Who knows what might happen if Yō can't keep it all to herself? How will Riko react? Will she start to ignore her? To avoid her? Will she stop communicating with her at all? Not all these thoughts and questions give rest, and it is no longer possible to spit on them: for too long Yō was silent about what she really feels.

_“I'm such an idiot.”_

*******

_“Let's rehearse again and go home.” There were weary sighs from all sides. “Tomorrow we will perform and we will have a rest! Thank you for today!”_

_“How tired I am”, Riko thought, getting up from her chair. “Well, this is the last time and we can relax.”_

_The only problem again was Yō. Rather, not her, but the distance between them, but everything looked as if nothing had happened. On the contrary, when it came to their interactions not as Yō and Riko, but as an old man and an old woman, everything went just fine. On the one hand, Riko was glad that at least everything would be fine on stage, but on the other hand, she was a little worried. Maybe she put some pressure on Yō that day... Was Riko being selfish when she said those words?_

_On the other hand, sometimes you can be a little selfish when it comes to your own feelings, right?.._

_Her thoughts were interrupted when someone gently tapped her on the shoulder. Riko turned to see Yō standing next to her with the same big smile on her face._

_“Come on, we'll start soon.” In a full image of an old man Yō looked pretty funny and yet still incredibly... Cool? It seemed to Riko that there was no costume in which Yō looked bad. “Let's try our best now and tomorrow, okay?” Yō's words were very encouraging so Riko relaxed a little realizing that her support was still there._

_“Yes! Absolutely!” Riko smiled and got a chuckle in return. “Did I say something funny?”_

_“Oh, no. I just like the way you look when you giving your best for something."_

_"Wha-“_

_“Oh.” Yō moved closer to Riko's face and lowered her voice by perhaps an octave. Well it seemed like that to the latter, already blushing girl. “I guess someone is embarassed by the great Watanabe Yō, mwa-ha-ha.”_

_"Eh- Wha- Y-Yō-chan!!!”_

_Yō only burst out laughing, drawing too much attention to both of them. Giggles and words like “typical Watanabe~" were heard from all sides. Aqours also watched this, having come today just to watch the completion of the dress rehearsal._

_“The 'straw hat' performed by these two should definitely appeal to the children, ha-ha-ha.” Said Chika turning to the others. “Ah, I'm so glad their awkwardness at the beginning is finally gone and they feel more comfortable with each other.” Chika had already whispered these words hoping no one would hear them. I wonder if she even suspected that nothing much had changed._

_“ **Absolutely agree!** The work on this was colossal and it is noticeable.” Mari agreed putting her arm around Chika's shoulders. “And the most important thing is that we only had to direct them, and otherwise they did quite well on their own!"_

_The other girls didn't understand anything they were talking about. Well, of course, Kanan and Dia had ideas about this, but they weren’t sure if they were right._

_Let's return to the main characters of our story._

_"Heh, by the way, Riko-chan.” Yō took a deep breath to calm down, stop laughing at the confused Riko, and say something important to them. “What do you think about coming over tonight? Run our lines again, I guess.” Yō put her right hand on the back of her neck, betraying her slight nervousness (Riko had noticed this detail quite a while ago). “If you don’t mind of course.”_

That's how Riko ended up in Yō's room on this late pre-Christmas night. The classmate's room was already decorated and Riko couldn't help but notice that it looked incredibly beautiful: garlands hung on the windows, on the (as Riko knows) desktop there was a small artificial Christmas tree, which because of the tinsel on it seemed white, as if it was dusted with snow. In general, the entire room was decorated in white tones: it gave the impression that the room was covered with snow. Socks hanging near the bed, pine twigs on the walls, garlands... The spirit of Christmas, it's here!

The only pleasant smell in the room was the hot chocolate that Riko and Yō had brought, which they had decided to enjoy after another round of reprising their roles. It seemed that all doubts and anxieties were gone, that everything that could concern them was so small and insignificant that they even got the impression of the stupidity of these feelings. They laughed, recalled some of the stories with Aqours or purely between the two of them, joked and, as a result, lost track of time.

"Yō-chan... Thank you."

“Eh? For what?”

Riko tilted her head slightly over the already empty mug, looking at the remnants of chocolate on the sides, “You've calmed me down just now. I'm still worried that I might do something wrong and ruin everything, but,” Riko allowed herself a small laugh. “You have an amazing ability to calm me down. Thank you, really.”

“Eh...? Ability? I guess I just see when you're anxious, he-he.” Yō was a little embarrassed, but her so-called cold calm didn't lose its strength. “Speaking of which, since we're here thanking each other...” Yō looked directly into Riko's eyes, which seemed to shine in the light of the garlands. “Thank you too for, well... Agreeing to work with me. you also inspired me, so to speak.”

There was a somewhat awkward pause and just then it dawned on Yō that maybe it was time to put all the dots on the “i”: after all, it was to clarify all the misunderstandings that she had invited Riko to her house.

“And in general, this whole idea with the play really interested me.” Yō decided to start from afar to carefully lead to the conversation that interests her. “I never really thought that getting used to a role would be so enticing and fun. Plus, the image of the old man is new to me, so it's also a new experience, he-he, what do ya think, Riko-chan?”

Riko smiled and nodded, completely agreeing with her friend's words. She set the mug down on the table next to her, waiting for Yō to say more.

“And so, for the last couple of days, I've been thinking more about what you said to me back then.” These words caught Riko off guard. What words exactly? What exactly does Yō think of them? “Maybe we really didn’t make the main characters for nothing. Maybe we're really right for this.” Yō broke into a wide grin, but it didn't last long. The smile quickly changed to a more serious face. “Speaking of which, about that conversation, Riko-chan…”

_Riko is desperate to avoid this conversation._

“No need, I understand, Yō-chan.” The girl muttered, her good mood instantly evaporating from the memories of that day. Dark thoughts began to fill the high school girl's head again, but her attention was quickly focused on something else: the sound of a small ceramic mug clinking against a wooden table. Riko looked over and saw that Yō had quickly gotten to her feet and was looking down at her with a kind of fire in her eyes.

“No, Riko-chan, you don't understand _anything_! It's not that I don't want to play _with you_ — on the contrary, I was over the moon, y’know — but how my _inner self_ feels.”

Of course, Riko didn't understand a damn thing that was said but hearing the hurt in her friend's voice she decided to listen to what Yō would say next — it was clear that she wasn't going to stop, although Riko was anticipating unpleasant words and sincerely wanted to end this conversation as soon as possible.

“I'm afraid I can't stand it, Riko-chan, please understand!” Tears began to form in Yō's eyes. “I feel so much just being around you, you have no idea!” Tears were literally pouring down her face, and it was obvious that she was already on the verge of breaking down. Riko felt helpless. “It's hard for me to keep it all to myself, the feeling that one more drop and everything will come out. I'm afraid of it, Riko-chan!”

Yō bursts into tears... _Because of her?..._

“I'm afraid to say the wrong thing, I'm afraid i'll say something that will hurt you or something that will make you hate me! I just...” Yō's voice began to break, tremble, she can't hold on and standing in front of her sobs. “I just don't know how y-you’d even feel about... _this kind_ of thing... Sorry, sorry, sorry!”

Riko got to her feet, not knowing what to do, and when she tried to approach Yō she noticed that the latter literally recoiled from her, grabbed her hair and went to the other corner of the room.

“Fine, just great, I hurt a dear person by simply not being able to say what I feel, well done, Watanabe, keep it up!”

Riko didn't know what was going on at all. Yō tries in vain to calm down, realizing that she has gone inexcusably far with her conversation.

_“Okay, once I started it I have to go to the end.”_

“Yō-cha-“ Riko began, but Yō grabbed her arm and cut her off.

“I don't need Chika-chan, I need _you! You,_ Riko-chan, hear me! _I love you!_ ”

*******

_"A long time ago, a poor old man and his wife lived in a small village.”_

The red curtain opened and before the children there was a scene of a small house, dusted with snow, with made-up actresses, but for small viewers it is an old man and an old woman. Outside their home, they hugged, laughed, and did their daily chores.

_“One day, on Christmas Eve, the old lady looked into the rice chest and saw that there was only a handful of rice left.”_ The organizer (the same Igarashi-san), read out the text in front of the younger students and dramatically pointed her finger at Riko and Yō playing their roles: _“That day, the snow fell so deep that they could not collect straw for their hats.”_

Riko held her head, shook it, and sighed loudly. Outside the house, Yō sat sadly on a bench, at one point defiantly spitting in frustration. An "old lady" came up to her from behind and called her to the upper room to finish the last of the rice.

Another girl flew into the room, all dressed in gray fur clothes, and began to cry with the words _"how hungry I am!"_ simultaneously pressing her hands to her face. Two other girls in the same clothes followed her.

_"Bear with me, Little Mouse, you know that this is a poor man's house, and one rarely eats one's fill in it.”_ The newly arrived "mice" hugged the baby mouse.

The old man and the old woman looked at this picture until the old man sighed and put down half of the remaining rice.

_”Poor Little Mouse,"_ Yō boomed, turning to Riko, _"We're so poor that we even have hungry mice.”_

The old woman chuckled sadly and put the bowl of rice in front of the mouse family, sat down again next to the old man and they all ate dinner together.

_"The next morning, the mice came out of the house, trampled the snow, and gathered a huge armful of straw.”_ Igarashi-san in front of the children showed with her hands how much the mice brought dry grass for the elderly couple.

Little Mouse proudly approached the old man and the old woman who came out of the house and squeaked:

_“This is to thank you for the rice you shared with us last night!”_

Yō and Riko looked first at the pile of straw, then at each other, grinned widely and hugged each other, filling the silent hall with laughter along the way.

“The way they play... like they're really married." Ruby whispered in the ear of Yoshiko, who was sitting next to her.

"Indeed.” Yoshiko muttered. “At first, I thought maybe Chika and Riri would be better at it, but I'm looking at it now and I can't help but agree.” Yoshiko smirked as she closed her eyes and continued proudly, _"Little demon Yousoro and Elite demon Riri are perfectly suited to these roles.”_

“It would be incredibly cool if they really **_got married._** ” Everyone looked dumbfounded at Mari who said this with a completely unperturbed face, and only when she noticed the eyes turned to her she only said her signature _**"what?"**_ in response receiving a slap in the face from Dia for _“completely unacceptable statements”_.

*******

Yō diligently washed off the remnants of makeup in the bathroom, finally ceasing to feel the film on her face and a lot of things on top of it, and smiled at the pleasant coolness of the water. Lifting her head to the mirror, the girl saw how much her hair was wet and tried quickly pushing away thoughts about the problem of returning them to a more or less attractive appearance after drying. Sighing she continued blind washing off the makeup and other things smearing on her and the names of which she does not know, and this routine was interrupted by feeling someone's touch on her shoulder. Raising her head again, Yō saw a normal _(without makeup)_ Riko smiling gently in the mirror. Yō couldn't help but smile too, and straightened up and turned to her friend.

Wait, did I say _"friend”_?

I’m sorry.

_She turned to **her girlfriend**_.

“Need help? I see you're having a little trouble with that.” The girl laughed, looking at Yō with her honey-colored eyes.

“I won't refuse your help~." Yō purred, her smile widening.

Of course, there were still fresh memories of the performance, how happy the elementary school students were, how many photos they took with the actresses, but both of them had only one thing on their minds:

_Last night. A night of sincerity and tears._

While Riko gently rubbed Yō's cheeks with her impossibly soft hands, the latter kept thinking about that day. Thinking that this might not have happened if she had listened to Riko and not continued that topic, eventually driving herself into hysterics but getting a confession about feeling the same way. On the other hand, if she had not decided to invite Riko to spend the night with her before the day of the performance...

_“Wow, the butterfly effect theory is really incredible.”_

Nevertheless, in the beginning, when Yō had just realized her growing interest in Riko, she hadn't even suspected that their _real relationship_ would now be… _a reality_ , especially since there was a distance between them and Yō had no idea how to reduce it. Now this distance is so small that it allows Riko to laugh at how soft Yō's cheeks are and how nice it’s to squeeze them, and rub her nose against the nose of her partner.

“I love you, Yō-chan.” Riko said, wiping the girl's face with a paper napkin.

“He-he, I love ya too!”

Two girls simply smiled at each other, leaving a comfortable silence in the bathroom.

Yō had a towel slung over her shoulders that she was going to use to dry off after washing off her makeup, but now she had a completely different idea. She put both hands on the edges of the towel and spoke to Riko:

"Riko-chan!!"

Of course, she attracted attention to herself, and throwing a slightly fluffy cloth already around Riko's neck pulled her closer to herself. The taller girl clearly was _not_ expecting this, so she squealed and her eyes widened.

_“Mhm!”_

Soft and warm. Their lips touched, but for lack of experience, the kiss was limited to that, but overall it was not so bad. Pulling away from Riko's face for a second, Yō tilted her head again and tried again, remembering all the movies where she'd seen at least one kiss scene. This time it turned out better and ashen-haired girl felt that the wine-haired girl responds hugging her around the waist, thereby bringing their bodies closer. For a second, it seemed to Yō that Riko was actually smiling during... _something that vaguely resembled a kiss_. Finally breaking away from each other, Yō looked up at Riko and noticed that she was all red ~~_(who’s the one to talk lol)_~~ , and laughed burying her face in Riko's chest.

_"Merry Christmas, Riko-chan.”_

**Author's Note:**

> in many ways this work is a solid reference to MFL (actually one of my interpretations of its meaning). at the start i wanted to write about them already married but in the end we have this. i dunno how but okay.  
> i'm from russia & english is difficult for me at some point so it was my first translation! if it has mistakes i'm sorry and feel free to tell me about them!
> 
> happy new year!!


End file.
